Jam Sessions

June 30, 2000, eight concertgoers were trampled to death during Pearl Jam's performance at Denmark's Roadskilde's Festival. Aug. 3, the band played its first show since the accident at the GTE Virginia Beach Ampitheater.\n"The last time we had to ask the crowd to do something it was under completely different circumstances than this," Eddie Vedder said during an extended bridge to "Daughter." Throughout the entire show, Vedder makes references to the tragedy, giving the show a somber but intense feel.\n"Sing loud 'cause it's outside. Sing loud 'cause you're still alive. Just sing loud, all right," he said before asking the audience to join him in singing "It's Okay," a mysterious track that seems to have come out of nowhere.\nThe show documents Pearl Jam throughout its career with tracks from five of the six studio albums. While the band completely ignored No Code, not even playing "Hail, Hail," the latest album, Binaural, received more than adequate coverage. "Grievance," "God's Dice," "Animal," "Nothing As It Seems" and "Thin Air" all made their way onto the album, and that's just the first disc.\nWhile straying away from its most popular material (i.e., "Jeremy," "Alive" and "Last Kiss"), Pearl Jam gives a healthy dose of its older material including "Corduroy," "Porch" and "Black."\nOften the live renditions closely resemble their studio counterparts, but occasionally Vedder & Co. take breaks for solos. "Nothing As It Seems" provides guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready with an excellent opportunity to showcase their talents.\nEddie Vedder, always in-tune with the political climate, took several opportunities to make his political views perfectly clear. In a strong performance of "Do The Evolution," Vedder changes the line here's my church I sing in the choir to I'm George Bush and my son is an asshole. Vedder would later make the claim if everyone in the audience voted for Ralph Nader, the world would be a better place.\nThe Virginia Beach show gave the audience everything it could want out of a Pearl Jam concert (except for "Jeremy"). It also gave Pearl Jam closure on what had surely been a rough month of dealing with the death of its fans.